1Password for iOS Review

by: Music47ell
1327 Words
/
7 Minutes

I’m one of those guys who generates strong and complicated yet easy to remember passwords. However, I do something that people won’t forgive me for doing. I use the same password for every single account I have.

Around three years ago, I discovered1Password but it didn’t change my life right away on how to use passwords correctly. It wasn’t until a year ago that I started using it the way it’s meant to be used.

That’s another thing I did wrong. I didn’t use the app right away, the way it should be used. Instead I just used it to save my one and only password for all my accounts, so I didn’t feel like it was useful for me until this year.

In case you were offline for the past year, let me tell you what happened.

This year many big companies were hacked into, lots of security holes and breaches. The main purpose of these hacks was to release as many passwords as possible to the public. Adobe breach was the wake up call for me because I was one of the victims of that attack like millions of others.

I realized that now my one and only password is available in the hands of these hackers, they can access pretty much all my accounts and information. I wanted and needed to fix that, and that’s when I realized that the solution was right in front of my eyes the entire time, 1Password.

If you don’t know what1Password is, it’s a password manager application that allows you to save all your account passwords and credentials. You’re able to organize them, which is convenient and makes your life easier.

Not only that, but 1Password also has the ability to generate complicated passwords for your accounts.

Today I’ll be discussing in detail about this amazing app that I believe everyone should own.

What makes 1Password fascinating is that you don’t need anyone to tell you how to use it, it’s that simple. The guys behind 1Password at AgileBits managed to do that with a great and simple design. Now let’s take a look…

Design and Ease of Use

1Password is designed to be easy to navigate through without getting lost. It gives you that reassuring feeling that your passwords are safe. You’re able to find them as quick as you need them.

They managed to do that by categorizing everything in sections, so when you need something you will know where to look. Below are the categories:

Bank Accounts

Credit Cards

Database

Driver’s License

Email Accounts

Identity

Login

Membership

Outdoor License

Passport

Passwords

Reward Program

Secure Note (Yes you can also secure notes or documents)

Server

Social Security Number

Software License

When you open the app you’ll be welcomed with the iconic logo of a lock that 1Password is famous for. You’ll be asked to enter your Master Password, which is the only password that you need to remember, in other words, it’s your 1Password.

At the bottom of the app you will find 4 tabs and a slider. Each of those tabs has it’s own purpose to help you with your password management. They are:

Favorite (save your favorite accounts for quick access)

Category (where all your accounts are categorized automatically with a search bar)

Organize (organize your accounts based on folders)

Settings (all the settings and options in 1Password)

Semi hidden slide-to-open browser that they call 1Browser.

Setting

The setting tab contains 4 menus:

Vaults

Security

Sync

Display

Advanced

Vaults:

Vaults are separate accounts for different people or different projects that you’re working on.

Let’s say that you are the tech administrator in the family (like me) then you will be in charge of all the accounts and passwords, that’s when Vaults comes in handy.

Create a separate vault from the primary one, name your vault, add all the family accounts and passwords so you can access them as you please.

Or you can create a Vault for your work and add your work credentials for easy access.

Security

Here you will be able to set your Master Password and a pin code, along with setting up a timer for automatic destruction to your clipboard, so if you copy a password and forget about it, 1Password will automatically remove it.

Sync

This is what makes 1Password different from other similar services like LastPass.

1Password doesn’t store any of your passwords on their servers, 1Password is just a client to organize and display your password.

Believe me when I say it works like magic, it’s quick and you will never miss a password anywhere you go.

Display

You can choose your font and allow 1Password to fetch icons to your accounts, apps and licenses.

1Browser

1Browser is Safari or Chrome with the 1Password extension installed.

I didn’t think I would ever use this browser, but I was wrong, it’s much quicker than copying your password and going back and forth between apps on iOS.

What 1Browser allows you to do is automatically login to your accounts with one tab, thanks to it’s built in 1Password extension that will display all the accounts and passwords related to the site you are browsing.

In the settings of 1Browser you will be able to change the User Agent of the 1Browser, clear its data, and Auto Submit logins and animate it.

Advanced

I rarely use this section of the settings, because you only need it when you have a problem with the app and you need to troubleshoot it, erase all the data or set a different language

What makes 1Password so awesome?

Now that you’ve read the article and arrived to this section, stop for a second and think to yourself, “what was the most thing that I talked about in this review?”

Organizing

1Password helps you organize your passwords and credentials using folders and Vaults, so whenever you need for example: your business twitter account.

You can search for it, or you can look at the folder social, or maybe the Vault Business.

Strong Password Generator

1Password uses 256bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) Keys. Want to learn more about AES head over to 1Password blog to read more about it.

I use the 1Password generator all the time to generate new passwords. Open the password generator inside the app, shuffle around the passwords a little and change their setting. Done. Easy as that.

The built in generator provides the user with a lot of options for secure and unique passwords. You are offered many options such as:

Length (length of your password, 4 min – 30 max)

Digits (you can include numbers in passwords too, 0 min – 10 max)

Symbols (if the service allows symbols in passwords, then go for it, don’t be shy, 0 min-10 max)

Avoid ambiguity

Allow repeats

Copy to clipboard

Conclusion

Buy it!!!

I’m serious, you won’t find anything better than 1Password for organizing your passwords/accounts in a secure and safe way.

It’s easy to use, no hidden fees, no subscriptions, nothing.

Just buy the app, connect it to your favorite syncing service and use it, that’s all.